Lady in Red

My mother never wore red. She said it looked terrible on her, but in my dreams she has worn it twice in two of my most vivid dreams of her.

For awhile after she died, I begged God to let her talk to me and cussed Him that He wouldn't give her back to me. Just something, anything, a sign or a dream. But nothing. Sometimes I'd just be alone in my car yelling at her that she hadn't sent me a message yet. Angry, sobbing screams that Heaven had better hear.

But then, finally, I had this very long convoluted dream where she and Jim ended up picking me up from somewhere or other (this was a common occurrence as Mom ALWAYS picked me up when I had been out on the town).  Anyway, at the end of the dream she came walking up to me in this red shirt smiling from ear to ear and hugged me. I FINALLY got to hug my mama. And she was so happy and looked so beautiful. Her long, wavy, dyed Judy hair, jeans, high wedges (as she hated being short), and a bright red top.

Then, about a week ago, I had this dream where she was, yet again, wearing a red top and jeans, but this time she was dancing and laughing. On the front porch of her house. On what looked like diamonds and pearls. But she just kept telling me to get off the phone and dance with her. Why the hell I was on the phone instead of dancing with my mama is beyond me. There is a deep psychological issue there, I'm sure, but the vivacious dancing and laughter and happiness was so palpable that I felt it when I woke up. And yet again, I felt and knew she was so happy. And anyone who knew her knew she was a wonderful dancer and loved doing it!

As an English teacher, I love teaching archetypes and so did she. Red is an archetype for passion and love. So I guess her message is pretty clear.

But my message to that lady in red is that she was so wrong about looking terrible in red. She has never looked better.